nicolettiacres9085

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This is Nichiiwad! He's a British white calf born this March! He was abandoned by his mother just hours after birth. We tried to keep them together and encourage bonding, but she had other ideas. She did nurse him a bit in the beginning, enough to get colostrum into his system and give him a start. Since then she had no interest, so I decided to take over! We bottle fed him 2-3 times a day and I spent countless hours with him. We became very close and he followed me around as if I were his mom. It took a lot to convince him to play with the other calves and that he couldn't follow me down the road or into the house! Eventually it all paid off and he's now convinced he's a cow and he can live with the herd. Towards the end of his bag of milk we were giving him, he had started nursing off other cows while more calves were being born and he's now been adopted by a very protective cow who had a daughter of her own and makes sure all the calves are safe from all potential dangers.

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Lots of beautiful blooms this year! I was so busy I didn't get pictures of all the apple trees or the plum trees, but all our flowers and fruit trees look promising this year! I was excited to see so many blossoms on our transparent apple tree because I use the fruit to make apple sauce from it! We just opened our last jar of apple butter and have been out of apple sauce for a few months now! From the looks of it I'll be making apple sauce for a whole week this fall! I was gifted a second crab apple tree this year so we will have plenty of wine in the future! Perhaps I'll have to try my hand at crab apple jelly as well! We discovered a choke cherry tree next to our lilacs on the north side of the house. Mixed with honey it will be an amazing jelly to add to the collection! The plum trees aren't as full and blossomed as years before but I expect to have enough for a small pie! Our other apple trees that I freeze the apples for winter use are also a bit scarce this year, so it'll be a real treat to have them in different treats this year!

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This was one of our latest extreme barn makeover moments! Having our ducks is amazing and I love how much they get along with the chickens and how easy it is to have everyone together. However, the ducks seem to think anywhere there is water, there should a pool! So, to help keep the barn cleaner and dryer, we built and installed this draining system. We used 4" pvc piping, some old 2X4's, river Rock, chicken wire, and quick-Crete that tapered down to the middle where the pipe went through.

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I've got seeds started in the house, garden plans all drawn up and written out, finally the weather is breaking a bit so I can start thinking about my soil! I've done a lot of research this winter about different techniques and tricks other people have used. I love the idea of my chickens rutting up and helping clean the garden area!

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Penny had 6 more babies before Roscoe was fixed and they all have food homes now!! We found a new home for the roosters as well so things have quieted down here at Nicoletti Acres... Well, as quiet as it can get with the Christian still cock-a-doodling lol! Still waiting to see if any of the hens will sit! #nicolettiacres #babybunnies #alldonewithkits

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I've started playing with cement now! The leaf is a rhubarb in its 2nd year and it's only green in the pictures because of the leaf still being on there, this was my first attempt! Joshua and I just wanted to see what would happen so we used some old patch cement to test it and these were the results. I can see where it would be better using casting cement which is what I'll do next time, especially for the hands! The hands I found on Pinterest actually... You use latex gloves and fill them with cement and shape them and allow them to dry for 24 hours! You can peel the gloves off once they've taken form to add fingernails and such, but that will be after I master keeping my fingers together! Super fun projects, can't wait to have more leaves in my gardens! #nicolettiacres #garden #project #cement #leaves #hands

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#siblings #goats #nicolettiacres #barnyard #brawl #pond

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Where to begin

It has been so long since my last blog! Where do I start?! The 3 babies that Mrs. Penny had are now all with their new adopted humans and they have grown so much! Now, we have 6 more little furry bundles of joy now! We've also moved the bunny hutches outside in the barnyard! When we're home, we let Roscoe run around the pasture with everyone and he loves it! This will be our last liter though, we're going to get Roscoe fixed on June 16! The babies are adorable but Roscoe and Penny need to be able to be together again! They were so happy when they first met and there was so much snuggle time! He's also gotten a little aggressive during dinner time since they've been separated... Their hutches are next to one another so they can still see each other, they just can't have more babies! We have a new rooster as well! Christian is a blue Andalusian that we got from a friend a couple towns over because she wanted a smaller rooster. We still have 2 of the 3 roosters that my girls hatched out and they are kept separate from their sister and Christian now. We do let them out to free range the yard with ms Scarlett who by the way didn't have a broken foot. Ms Scarlett may have had frostbite on her foot, causing it to die and eventually fall off. The weird thing was that her toes on the other foot fell off as well. It wasn't until after all this happened that she finally started laying eggs! She gets around good to where she wants and hops around and still seems happy. She no longer roosts up top with everyone but makes herself a nice little best on the floor by the door. We haven't had a brooding hen yet this year, but we get 4-5 eggs a day!! The ducks are back in the pond and just as happy as can be! Anatra is still chasing the hens around but he seems to be afraid of Christian! We've been getting a few eggs a week from Zhiizhiib but she hasn't tried sitting at all. I would love baby ducks! Watching them waddle and follow their parents to the pond and all over the barnyard! Our goats are still a little timid it seems, but I think it's a game that the boys play. When we are out in the pasture not paying attention to them they are right behind you stepping all over trying to see what has your attention, but if you turn your head to look at them they bolt away! I've been working with them, I even gave maverick a bath! What a rodeo! He needed it though! He had so much winter coat still, so he got a bath and brushed out really nice and now I try to brush them at least once a week! I need to up it to a couple more times a week though! They were scared of Roscoe the first time they met him! Those two are the biggest chickens I have! They still play for hours and you can see the sibling rivalry between them! Nikki dog is still getting around good! Her leg hurts her more and more each time winter hits, but she still swims and plays ball like a puppy!! Voltage still thinks she's the size of a puppy. Her barking has gotten out of control, but everyone seems to be a work in progress! Bear is still out little farm dog keeping everyone in line and helping rear the babies anytime a momma lets him get close enough! Hillbilly has been outside with us more this spring than he has in the past... That cat loves to chew on grass! He runs outside down the ramp to the tall grass! Lexi and Billie Jean aren't much for going outside, thankfully! They are all the same, though they seem a little sadder since I've started back to work and I'm not home as much! Bonnie and Clyde are almost a year old! They are such mischief makers! Bonnie is having a problem with biting, we're working on it but it's a slow process! Clyde and Oreo seem to be on a mission to ferret something or other! I moved the couch the other day and found all kinds of little things hidden underneath! All in all our little family is doing well! We're doing more gardening and projects around the house this year! As long as I have time to blog I'll keep an update!! #nicolettiacres #bunnies #ferrets #ducks #chickens #dogs #cats #farmlife #barnyard

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Spring has sprung🌷

It has been a while since my last post, but everyone has been doing great and we have been busy spring cleaning our house and barn! It's super important to keep up on keeping everyone's bedding and bathroom areas. It is usually super time consuming but I think we have a pretty good system set up for everyone. The rabbit hutch has a bottom that is slanted down to a gutter system that dumps into a bucket that we can dump everyday. The ferrets, there isn't much hope there other than cleaning it out daily like the cat box. I would say the worst animal we have to keep up on is the ducks... Their main room is always wet so we keep a light layer of hay in there to keep them off the floor. However my husband being the tinkerer that he is was able to fashion a draining system in their hutch as well. He used a heavy duty rubber mat on the bottom and used plywood underneath to slant it towards the outside wall where he continues it out the sliding door so it drains outside of the building! There are two rooms in the duck hutch... Their main room where we feed and water them and then a nest room where Zhishiib, the female, can lay her eggs and hopefully start sitting! The goats and chickens are just a weekly clean up. We keep hay and saw dust on the floor so we can just scoop it out onto a trailer and use it as mulch in our garden. Next time I'll be posting about caring for a chicken with a broken foot! 🌺Nicoletti Acres

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I'm so lucky to have a handy man! Our chicken waterer had a crack in the middle of it so my husband drilled a small hole on each side of the crack on the edge so the hole was just touching the end of the crack then he used a plastic water bottle top (you can use anything he just happened to use this) to melt onto the crack. He used a soldering iron to plastic weld the piece on both sides. You simply melt it until you penetrate a little ways and you use the filler to help build it back up! 💪🔧Nicoletti Acres

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All this time we've been checking the coop for chicken eggs and I completely forgot that ducks lay eggs! We change the hay bedding for the ducks every week or two depending how much time they spend in their little hutch and tonight my husband went out to give them some fresh hay and he uncovered 3 frozen eggs... Now that I know she is laying we will be adding a nesting box and checking it twice a day for eggs. We've never tried duck eggs before but everyone tells me they taste just like chicken! 🐣Nicoletti Acres

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Cuddle time with Oreo, Bonnie, and Clyde

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Rex and Maverick twin Nigerian Dwarf Goats born March 07, 2014

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This is a short video of our barn and the little friends that make their home there!!

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So far I have only shared bunny videos and blogs but I have so many other furry and feathered friends such as the Rouen Ducks in this video! Meet Anatra (Italian for duck) and Zhiishiib(Ojibwa for duck)! Rouens have a lot of similar features like mallard ducks. The males and females look the same but Rouens are a little bit bigger. The male Anatra,is very colorful with a green head, grey and white body, and blue tipped wings. The female, Zhiishiib, is mostly brown with black stripes and blue tipped wings. I’ve had these two since they were 5 days old, they were born April 11, 2014. Coming up I’ll have easy housing and feeding ideas for these feathered friends 💜Nicoletti Acres

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Here they are everyone! 3 happy healthy baby bunnies! They were born early in the morning February 13! Mama is healthy and happy! I gave her a treat while I checked in on her family! I gently weighed all three babies on a kitchen scale and they weighed in at 3.45oz 3.30oz and 3.25oz. Before you go into her nest there are a few things to consider... If your doe isn't use to being handled don't bother her nest at all... It will stress her out and she may not care for her young or she may eat them. You should still look in to make sure that the babies are all together and not scattered around... If they are scattered or you do have to handle them pet the Doe first to blend your scent with hers and gently move the kits all together and cover them with a little bit of hay and fur. Make sure she has plenty of fresh water, she will be drinking a lot! If you have handled your rabbit and she's comfortable with you, you can weigh the kits to make sure they are all healthy. I'm not sure what a good starting weight for babies of different species, but if they are all close in weight and maintain to be close and she's feeding them, there is no reason to worry. Try not to handle them too much though, I know it's tempting but she still needs her time and privacy. Don't be concerned if she's not in the nest with them at all times. It's a rabbits instinct to not be in the nest with her babies. They hope this will keep predators away from the nest since they aren't there attracting attention. She will go in to feed 1 or 2 times a day... Usually when it's calm and quiet and she doesn't feel stressed so you probably won't see her feeding at all. Coming up will be more on feeding and when you can expect to see them bouncing around! 🐰Nicoletti Acres